Unfinished
by willowwood
Summary: "…I guess…this is just one of those times when something goes unfinished, and we'll never know how it was supposed to turn out-"


**Title:** Unfinished  
**Author: **willowwood  
**Fandom:** _Bones_  
**Character(s)/Pairing:** Jack/Angela  
**Rating:** PG  
**Words:** 719  
**Disclaimer:** Not in this lifetime.  
**Spoilers:** Minor references to 1.17: _The Skull in the Desert_ but nothing major-ly spoiler-ish…I don't think.  
**Authors Notes:** Yet again this was originally intended for the prompt, of the same name, over at tv_100 but we all know how those turn out now don't we *heads desk*  
**Summary:** _"…I guess…this is just one of those times when something goes unfinished, and we'll never know how it was supposed to turn out-"_

**Unfinished**

"Remind me; the next time I move in with my boyfriend, to get him to move all the boxes" Angela began, walking into the lobby and awkwardly manoeuvring an overly full box from her hip, to hold out in front of her.

"Next time?" Jack asked turning at the sound of her voice, raising a disbelieving brow. The artist simply grinned teasingly, watching as he walked towards her before handing the box to him.

"As I remember it, you were the one who insisted on helping" He replied, smirking as she wiped at her dust covered brow.

"Chivalry is severely overrated"

As Jack turned to put the box with the rest of the others, Angela studied the assortment that already filled the entrance, "You know, I never realised I had this much stuff before" she said placing her hands on her hips, brow furrowed.

The entomologist wasn't paying attention, instead his interest had been caught by a brightly coloured piece of paper that was just visible, sticking out from between the pages of a clearly old sketchbook in the box she'd just handed to him.

Pulling it out he was surprised to realise that it was an unfinished pastel drawing. A blur of yellows, and brown mixing into a desert landscape, dunes in the distance covered by the smallest flecks of grass, a crisp blue skyline broken only by the appearance of light spots as though reflected through the lens of an old camera. Only the far right hand corner was unfinished, a couple drawn with a faint pencil outline, hands clasped, foreheads touching, the woman's dress being pulled at by the wind, and although the drawing seemed complete within itself, the only colour that adorned them was that of a pastel smudge from a wayward thumbprint.

"Ange, this is amazing" he began, glancing over his shoulder towards her, before taking a moment to study the images corners and turning it over in his hands, searching for some indication as to when it had been started "-how come you've never finished it?" he felt more than saw the artist come to stand besides him.

"My god; I forgot all about that" he was surprised, but didn't react, to the way her voice wavered ever so slightly a hand coming up to cup at her own cheek, "I started it the last time I was in the desert with Kirk…He'd taken some images of the two of us one evening and I'd wanted to create my own representation of it"

Looking at the image now, acknowledging the couple and what it was, what it represented Jack's heart ached. Sadness at the undeniable happiness Angela had shared with another man, and at the pain, he knew she'd gone through upon his death.

"I stopped working on it after he went missing; always figured I would finish it when he came back".

"It's beautiful" Jack replied, his gaze fixed on her. She smiled half heartedly, a thoughtful silence forming between them

"So what happens to it now?" He asked after a moment.

"I'm never going back there-" She dropped her arm, crossing it against the other defiantly, her answer quicker, but not as determined as it probably should have been "-so I guess…this is just one of those times when something goes unfinished, and we'll never know how it was supposed to turn out-"

Understanding that she wasn't just talking about the drawing, Jack wordlessly slipped the page back into the sketchbook and handed it to her. She stared at it for a long time, eyes vacant, remembering things he'd never know about.

Finally she blinked, pulling herself from the memories "- In this job you learn early on that you just have to put those kinds of things aside and start something new-" she dropped the book back into the box it had come from "-something better". When she finally turned to face him, her eyes were filled with the first traces of tears.

Reaching out he took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, surprised when she pulled away and swatted him on the arm playfully "Now are you gonna help me finish bringing the rest of these boxes in or do I have to do it all myself?"

Following her out into driveway Jack couldn't help but smile.

**The End**


End file.
